Inertia Lite and Ultra Lite pinewood derby wheels by DerbyWorx
Our Inertia Lite and Ultra Lite wheels are official pinewood derby wheels that have been modified by DerbyWorx on their CNC machines to dramatically improve the performance of the wheels.
The hub bores on all pinewood derby wheels have a slight taper. This taper is needed to remove the wheels from the mold when it is made but the taper reduces performance. The hubs on the Inertia Lite and Ultra Lite wheels are reamed and burnished with a special fluid to remove the taper and for better finishes and matching sizes in all of the sets.
Before anything is done to the wheels, they are hand sorted and only the best molds are used. Over 25% of the wheels get scrapped before machining.
Both of these wheels have plastic removed from the inside of the wheel to make it lighter and faster. The difference between the two wheels is that the lettering on the inside of the wheel is untouched on the Inertia Lite wheel but is removed on the Ultra Lite wheel. As a result, the Ultra Lite wheel is lighter than the Inertia Lite.
The outer hub face uses a 2 stage cut. The result is a friction reducing cone in the center but leaves a flat on the outer edge. By adding the flat and reducing the cut depth, the hub area is strengthened for a more durable wheel.
Tread Face Finish has been improved for a closer to un-cut wheel appearance and the inner edge of the wheel is re-cut and trued resulting in a surface that is far superior to the stock pinewood derby wheels yet appears to be unmodified.
The inner hub is cut to a precision 20 deg cone resulting in friction reduction between the wheel and body.
The edge of the tread (where it contacts for Rail Riding) is now ultra smooth and is polished. This is new for this season and takes the sharp edge off of the wheel where the tread radius meets the inside.